2breathe is a smart device and mobile app that guides your breathing to induce sleep. It uses proven technology to lower your neural sympathetic activity and help you fall asleep. Currently iOS only.

The calming effects of certain breathing exercises have been known for centuries. They are central in meditation, yoga and mindfulness techniques but are hard to do on your own.

2breathe can also be used for general relaxation and breathing practice. The app uses the same algorithm built into the Resperate devices that are approved for lowering pressure and increasing relaxation.

Within minutes, neural sympathetic activity is reduced allowing the mind & body to relax into sleep.

2breathe patented technology grew out of the Resperate (an FDA approved device) for non-drug treatment of hypertension and stress, now included in treatment guidelines of the American Heart Association.

When 90% of hypertension users surveyed that used Resperate, reported that it also improved their sleep, the technology was adopted for smartphones and the 2breathe platform was created to induce sleep.

Users say 2breathe is Hypnotic. Here is why.

The normal falling-asleep process involves progressive disconnection from our surroundings. Our minds, turn inward as we drowse into sleep, and our control over mental activity and awareness of sensory stimuli diminishes. During this process, sympathetic neural activity is decreased with resulting mental and muscle tone relaxation.

2breathe induces sleep by captivating the racing mind, keeping it focused on breathing via its guiding tones. As the tones gradually prolong exhalation and slow breathing, the neural sympathetic activity, is reduced allowing the mind & body to relax into sleep.

2breathe takes methods of ‘mindfulness meditation’ which have been demonstrated to reduce insomnia [1] to the next level. With 2breathe, the whole breathing synchronization and prolonging the exhalation process happens subliminally in a way you can’t do on your own. The guiding tones affect the emotional, and not the cognitive part of the brain, as other methods such as counting or “thinking about it” tend to do.

Furthermore, 2breathe’s core patented technology composes the guiding tones in real-time, in a way that continuously adapts to the user’s ability to be guided. Such interactive guidance creates an optimal and personalized breathing exercise shown to play a prominent role in the beneficial effect far beyond pre-recorded relaxing tones used by most breathing apps [2-4].

2breathe development is a fascinating story of how a “side effect” of one medical technology became the star feature of a new product for inducing sleep.

It all began when the wife of co-founder and world renowned small blood vessel scientist, Dr. Benjamin Gavish had a headache that just wouldn’t quit. It seeded an idea for a new technology to harness the ancient wisdom of therapeutic breathing. A decade and tens of millions of dollars later it became the RESPeRATE device – The world’s only non-drug hypertension treatment device cleared by FDA which is now included in treatment guidelines of the American Heart Association [1].

The device’s only “side effect” was that users were falling asleep as they used it. In fact, clinical studies found that it lowers neural sympathetic activity [2, 3, 4], reduces chronic stress [5] and anxiety [6] all prominent components of inducing sleep.

When 90% of users reported that beyond lowering their blood pressure, it also improved their sleep, we decided to turn the “side effect into a feature” and adapt the technology to help the millions who suffer from sleeplessness.

We went back to the drawing board and redesigned the effective device-guided breathing technology into a sleek smartphone powered product.

We named it 2breathe. Our users call it transformational.

How to use 2breathe to solve your sleep issues:

There are two methods for using 2breathe, either falling asleep with the sensor or if your issue is staying asleep, we recommend using 2breathe as a daily breathing exercise allowing its therapeutic benefit to accumulate. As many people will experience both conditions at some point we recommend reading both detailed descriptions.

2breathe transforms your breathing into tones that gradually guide you to prolonged exhalation and slow breathing. Within minutes, neural sympathetic activity is reduced allowing the mind & body to relax into sleep.

So, if you have a hard time falling asleep, we recommend that you use 2breathe in bed when you are ready to turn in for the night. At some point during the session you will begin to feel drowsy and it will be harder to follow the guiding tones. Don’t fight it! Simply breathe as you wish and allow yourself to fall asleep. The sensor and app will completely shut off 10 minutes after you fall asleep.

Using 2breathe to stay asleep:

Unlike with falling asleep issues, it’s hard to pinpoint the exact cause of staying asleep issues. Some wake up to use the bathroom and many times find it hard to get back to sleep. Some people also find themselves waking up far earlier than planned and simply call it a night.

Breathing exercises have been found to have a beneficial cumulative effect in assisting people to maintain and get back to sleep. Think about it as reconditioning your neural network. As with other physical exercise, seeing results might take four to six weeks and continued practice is typically required to maintain the effect.

We recommend performing a 15 minute daily breathing exercise session (without falling asleep). When done, remove the sensor and go to sleep as you normally do (or go about your business if you are performing the session during the day. To receive maximum benefits of this breathing exercise, your goal is NOT to fall asleep but rather to follow the tones throughout the whole session.

Whatever the sleep issue you are facing, track your sleep!

We hope you are already acquainted with the in-app 10-second sleep diary sent to you by notification each morning. As you probably noticed by now, its information populates the in-app sleep report where you will see the cumulative effect of 2breathe.

To further assess your progress we will be emailing you a 30-second, bi-weekly Sleep Quality survey where we will ask you to rate your issues in the passing two weeks.

You may be surprised. It's a great way to assess and realize how your sleep patterns are changing!

Please fill your first Bi-Weekly Sleep Quality survey here.

A few quick points to note:

If the guiding tones seem very fast, it is likely that your sensor isn’t reading right. Please hit the refresh button and make sure you aren't moving too much as this will throw the sensor reading off.

In order to best not be disturbed while using the app, you can put the phone on airplane mode and then turn the bluetooth on.

When the session begins, 2breathe will read your breathing and then it will begin guiding you when to inhale and exhale. You shouldn't need to look at phone to follow the breathing in order to fall asleep, but if you are using it as an exercise and not to fall asleep, you certainly can watch the screen.